Remake of the Thundercats coming this July!
I could not believe it, but a new version of my favorite TV show from the 80’s is coming back! The Thundercats will be coming to Cartoon Network this summer, and I can’t wait to see how they will turn out. I will have to find a way to watch them from Germany… In any case, here is the trailer:
Update 1: Youtube decided to take out the trailer (at least in Germany), so I’m switching to Vimeo… If they shut this one down, I’ll host it myself! HO!
Plant for the Planet: Learning from children
Yesterday, I learned about an initiative called Plant for the Planet. It is spearheaded by an organization called the Global Marshall Plan out of Germany. Their motto is “stop talking, start planting,” and has gained significant media exposure.
The face of the campaign is a 12-year old boy named Felix Finkbeiner, who has been able to convince politicians, activists and celebrities to let him take pictures of them with his hand over their mouths, as if he was shutting them up – it’s pretty nice 🙂
The group plans to do a big “tree planting party” at the next round of climate change negotiations in Bonn this coming May. They expect to bring thousands of children, who like Felix plan to tell the negotiators to shut up and start planting. It’ll be a sight to see!
I promise to take pictures, so stay tuned!
International AIDS Conference 2008 – Mexico City Day 1!
Today I attended a few sessions at the IAC 2008. The first one was a plenary discussing the different approaches to HIV/AIDS. It was very informative!
I then spent a lot of time at the conference’s Global Village. This is a huge exhibition space where a multitude of community-based organizations are sharing their experiences working with HIV/AIDS and organizing a lot of participatory activities.
I also participated in a session on how young people are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to battle the pandemic. I’ll share some videos from this session soon.
Following this last session, I went to an event focusing on the linkage between migration and HIV/AIDS. I thought it was just going to address migration from Mexico and Central America to the US, but the conversation was much richer and included presentations on migration issues in Asia and Africa.
I ended the day with a session on the pandemic’s future. It was run by an initiative called aids2031 which is trying to create a framework for addressing HIV/AIDS in a more sustainable long-term manner.
I’ll keep reporting!
Youth Pre-Conference at Mexico International AIDS Conference
From July 31 to August 2, I was part of a youth pre-conference to the International AIDS Conference. It was great! I hung out with 200+ young people from around the world working on HIV/AIDS-related projects. The conference provided some preparation for the actual International AIDS Conference, which started last night. I helped organize the last youth pre-conference in Toronto, but feel that this one was better in many ways.
I taped some of the content from the pre-conference and hope to add it to some footage from the main conference and share it with everyone soon!
Minerva Sound Society – intercultural understanding or just a lot of fun?
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Today I found out that my buddy Rob Camstra has a new band in the Netherlands. The name of the band is Minerva Sound Society and it is made up by 10 students in the Netherlands who play a pretty funky sound! They are also a sort of cultural ambassador troupe for the Netherlands, traveling the world and sharing good will. If you are interested check them out! They have videos of their performances in China, Dubai and Nigeria as well as some of their music.
Rob and I know each other from our time playing together in Curacao. We used to have a band named Retrospective, and we did pretty well for ourselves – even though we were just in high school!
Make sure you check out Rob’s band!
Youth and Social Enterprise
I am currently involved in a social enterprise fellowship called Startinbloc. For those of you who have not heard of this organization, it “educates, empowers and connects emerging leaders to drive positive social change across sectors.” It does so through intensive fellowship programs that provide prospective social entrepreneurs with the tools to become effective in their quest to achieve the so-called “triple-bottom line.”
This type of program also encourages a peer community of social entrepreneurs who share best practices and provide support while in the process of launching a social venture.
As part of the fellowship I was given a business problem that I need to resolve with a group of colleagues, similar to a management consulting assignment. Most specifically, I’m helping a social enterprise develop an effective volunteer program. I hope that my previous experiences at Junior Achievement and coordinating Global Youth Service Day will be helpful!
Obama and young Latinos
Wow! Obama won Wisconsin! Now he is off to concentrating in Texas and Ohio. I think that in Ohio the key group is going to be blue collar workers, who are hurting with the current economic outlook. In Texas, however, I think that the Latino youth vote is going to play a significant role in determining who wins.Â
Based on previous contests in states heavily populated by Latinos such as New York and California, Hillary seems to have an edge. However, I think that in the case of Texas the election is not going to be based on identity politics, but instead it is going to be a big generational rift. I am a strong believer that Obama gains support from young people after they get a chance to interact with him, but also when they realize how close he is to their concerns and issues.
This is a candidate who is not afraid to call on young people to make some sacrifices, to get involved in their communities, to stop with the same old politicking of always.This guy actually says let’s stop with the political crap and get things done! Young people relate to this! As we can see day after day, young people are becoming more involved in their communities, are volunteering more, and are creating social enterprises that foster the power of ideas to benefit marginalized communities.Â
For all of this, I am convinced that Obama will continue to motivate young people, especially Latino youth in Texas who are eager to turn the page, continue their engagement to social change, and finally say: yes we can!Â
